In a recent interview with USA Today, Daisy Ridley chimed in on the criticism that Star Wars: The Last Jedi faced. In fact, her comments may be surprising.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released in December 2017, and the film further divided fans of the franchise. Of course, there are people who loved the film, but there are also people who did not like it.
Even now, around a year and a half after the release of The Last Jedi, the negativity surrounding the movie is still present.
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Daisy Ridley has made several interview appearances over the last week or so.
In an interview with USA Today, Ridley was asked if she was surprised about the criticism writer/director Rian Johnson faced as well as the overall controversy of The Last Jedi.
Her comments are somewhat unexpected, but certainly interesting. She said the following:
"“I wasn’t surprised, no. It’s just a different thing. Everyone’s going to have an opinion now anyway on the internet, but I also think it’s fair. If people hold something incredibly dear and think they know how it should be and it’s not like that, it’s fair for people to think they were done wrong. It doesn’t mean they were – ultimately, Rian’s a filmmaker and one person can’t dictate how a film is supposed to be – but freedom of expression, sure.”"
The words that stand out from these comments are “I wasn’t surprised” and “it’s fair.”
Overall, it seems as though the criticism of Episode VIII doesn’t bother Ridley too much. In fact, she seems to understand it, as she mentions the passion of Star Wars fans.
Of course, she has had time to think about this, being that it’s been around a year and a half since the movie’s release date.
Going further, she also stands up for Rian Johnson in these comments, saying that one person does not determine a whole film. It’s a group effort.
How long the criticism of Episode VIII lasts is really to be determined at this point. One thing is clear. Whenever the main cast from The Last Jedi appear in interviews leading up to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s release date, they will be faced with questions of Episode VIII’s backlash.
Perhaps the negativity will ease up after the release of Episode IX. For now, it seems as though it’s still a main subject.
Let me know in the comments below how you feel about what Daisy Ridley said on The Last Jedi’s criticism.